Nautical Theme Party Ideas

If you know me, you know I like to go all out for birthday parties. Decorating and planning activities have become so much more fun now that we have two kids! Our little guy just turned one in December and even though I knew he wouldn't remember it, I wanted to have friends over and celebrate. I decided on a nautical theme party because I've always loved anchors and stripes. Plus, a warm, beachy theme was exactly what we needed to get out of the winter slump here in Minnesota.

Nautical Theme Party - Decorations

The first thing I got started on was decorations. I don't like to spend a ton of money on things that get used for one day. My mom has a Cricut Machine (and I just got one for Christmas-YAY!) so I used that to make most of the decor.

Using the Cricut is SO much easier than cutting out each item by hand. Plus, there are a ton of cartridges to choose from regardless of your theme. I used the Cricut to cut out the letters for Lincoln's birthday banner and cut the tan background pieces by hand while I waited. Using jute to string the words really tied into the nautical theme. I LOVE how it turned out!

Another thing I worked on while cutting the letters was photos from birth to twelve months. I take a million pictures of my kids but I try to take one each month on their birth day to commemorate that age. For Lincoln's birthday, I printed these and backed them with alternating colors of cardstock to fit with our nautical theme party.

Once the letters were cut out, I started working on adorable little sea creatures. Now, if you prefer a more formal nautical theme, these may not be for you. Since we were celebrating our baby turning one, we thought they tied into the theme just fine and were adorable. We taped them on the wall below the photos and the kids loved that they were at eye-level.

My sister is re-doing her laundry room with a nautical theme, so she lent me a couple of nets that she bought. One of them is HUGE so we hung it from the ceiling and filled it with blue and white balloons. It looked awesome, and towards the end of the party we released all of the balloons for the kids to play with, which they loved.

I put Lincoln's baby book out so our guests could look through it if they wanted. Apparently, I've been into the nautical theme for awhile because even his book fit our theme!

Nautical Theme Party - Food

We wanted to do something decorative in the food area so we bought tablecloths from the dollar store and hung them on the wall-big impact, low cost. Another net from my sister and a few more Cricut-cut ocean animals and the wall was complete! We made a little centerpiece with cutouts also.

We decided to keep it simple for food. Pulled pork from Costco was cheap and easy so we heated it in the crockpot. We made pulled pork sandwiches and then had a few sides including a noodle salad, veggies with dip, honey roasted peanuts, and veggie straws.

A few years ago I picked up this giant shell which is perfect for parties. We've used it for a Little Mermaid birthday party and a Finding Dory party too (apparently we like underwater themes!). We filled it with Veggie Straws and called them coral-simple but a big hit!

To tie in the nautical theme a little more, I wrapped napkins with lifesavers (found that idea on Pinterest!) and jute. Everyone got silverware, a napkin, and an after-dinner mint in one cute package.

For the cake, we love to buy from our local bakery. Even though they didn't have a nautical cake as an option, they made this for us at no extra cost. I love how it turned out and I didn't have to make it which was the best part! They even gave us a free smash cake since it was for a first birthday party.

Nautical Theme Party - Crafts

Crafts are a fun way to keep the boredom away on cold winter days, so I thought we'd incorporate one into the party. We gave each child an eye patch and made pirate treasure chests!

I found super cheap boxes at our local craft store that reminded me of treasure chests (but these ones are even cuter!).

I bought some paint and anchor stickers for the kids to decorate their chests so they could each personalize them. It was messy but they enjoyed it which was the important part!

Before the kids left we filled their chests with 'treasure'. I bought these inexpensive chocolate coins from a party store and they were all excited to have something to take home!

We had such a fun time at Lincoln's first birthday and got a lot of compliments on the decorations. I had a great time putting it all together!

What kind of birthday parties have you thrown for your kids?
What were their favorites?

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